Efforts to boost trade ‘hampered by visa controls’

The Commons Public Accounts Committee said the UK was 
currently set to miss Chancellor George Osborne’s target – 
announced in the 2012 Budget – to double the value of its 
exports to £1 trillion by 2020.

Despite the Foreign Office (FCO) and UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) spending £420m last year to promote British exports, the committee said that for the past two years growth had remained flat.

While the committee said the two organisations needed to work more effectively together, it also highlighted “tensions” with the Home Office over its time-consuming visa regime.

“The Home Office’s measures to secure the UK’s borders, 
for example, through setting 
visa entry requirements, can discourage business travellers 
from other countries from 
visiting the UK. This potentially affects export opportunities,” it said.

“The FCO and UKTI told us that they are aware of a high level of concern in some countries about the time-consuming process of getting a UK visa.”

The FCO has been pressing 
for the three to five-day priority visa service – currently available in 67 countries – to be extended to a total of 90 countries.

A same-day service, already available in India, is being expanded to cover China and six other countries.

“Despite such efforts, there remains considerable evidence of problems for business travellers and other individuals obtaining UK visas, which is damaging 
to the development of the face-to-face relationships needed 
for successful business in 
other countries,” the committee said.

The committee chair, Margaret Hodge said: “UKTI and the 
FCO should look into the 
difficulties experienced by business travellers in obtaining 
UK visas and work with the Home Office to minimise them.”